Innovation scoreboard: Mixed
results

The fifth edition of the European Innovation Scoreboard (EIS) reveals
that Sweden, Finland Switzerland, Germany and Denmark are the European
innovation leaders. Most of the new Member States are engaged in the catching-up
process, however, their slow pace is unlikely to allow for short-term
convergence in Europe. In addition, should trends for the 25 Member States
continue, the innovation gap between Europe and the US will not close. The EIS
includes innovation indicators and trend analyses for all 25 European Union (EU)
Member States, as well as for Bulgaria, Romania, Turkey, Iceland, Norway,
Switzerland, the United States and Japan. It assesses five key dimensions of
innovation: innovation drivers, knowledge creation, innovation and
entrepreneurship, applications, and intellectual property. In addition, it
proposes new assessment of innovation efficiency and develops a specific
sectoral approach.

“The innovation scoreboard clearly shows that we have to do more for
innovation. Boosting innovation is a major pillar in our Partnership for Growth
and Jobs. There is clear evidence that more innovative sectors tend to have
higher productivity growth rates”, Vice President Günter
Verheugen said.

The European Innovation scoreboard highlights significant national
differences. The EIS shows an overall picture of innovation performance in
Europe. Nordic countries plus Germany are the EU innovation leaders. The new
Member States are either in a catching up process or are losing ground. Most of
the “old” Member States are in a larger group of average performing
countries.

According to their innovation performance, the scoreboard divides the
European countries in four groups:

Chart 1 shows the Summary
Innovation Index (SII) on the vertical axis and the average growth rate of the
SII on the horizontal axis. Countries above the horizontal dotted line currently
have an innovation performance above the EU25. Countries to the right of the
vertical dotted line had a faster average increase in the SII than the EU25.

Chart 1: Summary Innovation Index (SII) and trends

[Graphic in PDF & Word format]

Notes: The circles in Figure I identify the four main country groupings:
top = leading countries, middle = average performers, bottom right = catching
up, and bottom left = losing ground.

The US and Japan are still far ahead of the EU25 as shown in Chart
2. The innovation gap between the EU25 and Japan is increasing and the one
between EU and US is close to stable.

Chart 2: EU25 innovation gap towards US, Japan and
EU15

[Graphic in PDF & Word format]EU25
equal to 0.0

Improving innovation efficiency

For the first time, the EIS developed an input/output approach which allows
an approximation of how countries transform their innovation enablers.

Chart 3 illustrates that Switzerland, Germany, Luxembourg, Ireland and
Malta are examples of countries which show much better performance on outputs,
therefore successfully transforming their assets into innovation success.
Iceland, Estonia, Lithuania, Cyprus and Norway are examples of countries showing
much lower performance on outputs than on inputs. One possible explanation for
these observed differences might be the receptiveness of a country’s
population to new products and services, as it has been measured by the European
Commission “Innobarometer” survey in 2005.

The EU invests about a third less in research than the US, and the EU/US
innovation gap has not narrowed in recent years. Meanwhile, emerging countries
like China and India are fast becoming world-class centres of research and
innovation. To address this challenge, boosting innovation is a major element of
the Lisbon Partnership for Growth and Jobs. On 12 October 2005 the Commission
tabled an integrated innovation/research action plan (MEMO/05/366),
which calls for a major upgrade of the conditions for research and innovation in
Europe.

The action plan launches ambitious initiatives to promote innovation and
research, such as redeployment of state aid, improved efficiency of intellectual
property protection, mobilisation of additional funds for research, creation of
innovation poles, and improving university-industry partnerships.

For the first time, the plan offers an integrated approach to EU research and
innovation policies, and is particularly focused on improving the conditions for
private sector investment in R&D and innovation. The Action Plan is a
further step in the Commission’s delivery of the Lisbon Partnership for
Growth and Jobs.

For individual summaries of the innovation performance of all 25 Member
States see MEMO/06/5

Additional information on the European Commission innovation initiatives can
be found on the European Innovation Portal